Tiger Woods bookended his return to the PGA Tour with a pair of birdies. The middle of his opening round of the Memorial Tournament on Thursday was a slightly different story.
Tony Finau ended the round as the leader at -6, while Bryson DeChambeau stole the show with a monster drive at No. 1 after making the turn.
But Tiger drew most of the attention in Dublin, Ohio, as he is wont to do, and started his day with a little bit of showmanship on the warmup green.
Playing at Muirfield Village, Tiger returned for his first competitive round since February’s Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles.
The 15-time major champion didn’t disappoint in the early going, slotting home birdies on the first and third to go two-under.
That momentum faded, though, as Tiger gave two back before making the turn. He followed up a birdie on the par-5 15th with a bogey on 16 before closing his round with a birdie on 18 to finish -1 and tied for 18th.
The highlight of the day, meanwhile, belonged to DeChambeau, who mashed an astonishing 423-yard drive on hole No. 1.
Despite the fireworks show, DeChambeau finished the round +1 for the day and tied for 42nd.
Alone atop the leaderboard, Finau dialed in six birdies on the back nine to bring his first-round score to -6.
There’s a fairly dense crowd behind Finau, with Ryan Palmer one stroke back in second, Brendan Steele and Gary Woodland tied at -4, and a trio of golfers tied for third at -3.
Yet with his birdie on 18 bringing him under par for the day, history is favoring Tiger.
It truly looks to be anybody’s game at Muirfield, with FOX Bet’s insights tabbing Finau as the favorite to win outright at +650 following Thursday’s action.
Other favorites include Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy (+750), Woodland (+900), Patrick Cantlay (+1000) and Woods (+1400) as we head into Friday’s action, scheduled to tee off at 7 a.m. ET.
